


That’s what siblings do

by LittleTurtle95



Series: “Lost Book of the White” Countdown Event [2]
Category: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec Lightwood is Good With Kids, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Good Boyfriend Alec Lightwood, Good Parent Magnus Bane, Good Parent Maryse Lightwood, Heart-to-Heart, Insecure Magnus Bane, M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Parenthood, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26062762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleTurtle95/pseuds/LittleTurtle95
Summary: Lost Book of the White countdown event.Day two: parenthood.Rafael has been part of the Lightwood-Bane family only for a few months when the two kids start to fight more often. Alec shrugs it off like it's not a big deal, but Magnus is taking it worse than it seems...
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Max Lightwood-Bane & Rafael Lightwood-Bane
Series: “Lost Book of the White” Countdown Event [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1890529
Comments: 10
Kudos: 152





	That’s what siblings do

**Author's Note:**

> This is sort of a prequel of my fic named “The sand in the bottom half of the Hour Glass”, that stars the first _serious _fight of the kids. Feel free to drop by and read it right after this one 🥰__

_ “Leave me alone!”  _ a loud crash followed by a sudden cry made Magnus run out of the kitchen to see what was happening. 

He opened Rafael’s bedroom door in a rush and almost cursed in front of the kids when he saw the scene right in front of his eyes. 

He immediately scooped up a crying Max in his hands and started stroking his hair careful to avoid the horns. He looked at the shattered Lego Death Star - Simon’s gift for Rafe’s birthday - on the floor and then at Rafael’s grumpy face and sighed. 

“What the Belial happened here?”

Both kids screamed and started telling the respective point of views at the same time, that could be summarised basically by a  _ he started!  _ and a series of spanish curse words from one of them and a  _ he doesn’t let me play!  _ and a few incoherent shrieks from the other.

Magnus held Max tighter with one hand and massaged one of his temples with the other, feeling the faint shadow of a migraine already approaching.

“Stop, stop, stop, stop!” he said, raising his voice enough to be heard but not enough to be considered yelling. He had read in a few mundane magazines Luke lent him a few weeks earlier that yelling at kids was definitely not the most ideal parenting strategy. 

The boys immediately stopped screaming, Max started sniffing on Magnus’ shoulder and Rafe kept rambling under his breath unintelligible words with a frown. 

“I want to hear what happened from the both of you, one at a time, no yelling and no crying, okay? You start Rafe.”

Rafael scoffed and muttered something that sounded a lot like  _ boloudo.  _

_ “Rafael,” _ scolded Magnus, trying to keep his voice steady. 

Max sniffed one time more and the kid started to talk.

The boys were already in bed and Magnus had just finished washing their dinner dishes when he heard the door open and close softly. He sighed in relief, already feeling better.

“Hey,” Alec whispered, his eyes finding Magnus’ as soon as he stepped in the room, covered in blood and ichor. 

“Hey yourself,” Magnus answered, the first true smile of the evening on his lips. 

“How’s my second favourite warlock doing today?”

Magnus smirked. “A lot better, now that you’re home. What about my second favourite shadowhunter?”

“A lot better, now that I’m home,” Alec said, and let his bow fall on the carpet with a soft thud. “The boys?”

“Fast asleep,” Magnus said, then added bitterly, “at last.”

“Sounds like you had a rough day,” Alec whispered, approaching him and brushing the back of his hand to Magnus’ chest, right above his heart. 

“You don’t look so relaxed yourself,” he chuckled, wiping some dry blood off Alec’s cheek with the softest touch. 

“You know the Ravener in Ellis Island I texted you about? Well, it wasn’t  _ a  _ Ravener. It was a Ravener  _ horde.  _ I’ll need a few more iratzes before sleep, I’m all sore.”

“My knight in stained armour.”

Alec smirked. “It’s not as good and flattering as you make it sound, you know.”

Magnus ignored him. “I can make it better, if you want.”

“Nah, you look tired. Don’t waste your magic, I’ll be fine. You can kiss it better, if you like.”

“You smooth shadowhunter,” Magnus whispered, and before he could say anything more, their lips met and shut everything else off. 

They were already melting into it, hands on hips, all hot breaths, small bites and fingers subtly sneaking under shirts when Alec’s stomach growled. 

Magnus smiled against Alec’s lips and pushed him lightly. “Come on fearless warrior, I saved you some leftovers.”

“Who’s the hero, now?” asked Alec, already looking for the food. He quickly found it and brought his ramen to the kitchen counter, starting to eat it with his hands. 

Magnus made a face but didn’t comment. He knew that Alec became feral when he was hungry and even if he felt faintly disgusted by it he was also fond about it. Probably that was what marriage meant, knowing every gross, awkward habit about your partner and loving every disgusting part of it more than you sensibly should.

“What about you?” Alec asked, after swallowing a mouthful of food, a little stain of sauce mixing with blood and ichor on his chin. “How have you been today?”

_ My elegant, mature, smooth, angelic shadowhunter,  _ he thought sarcastically, then smiled.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

“Yes, my love. You have multiple somethings on your face in fact,” Magnus answered, his smile even wider.

Alec wiped it all off with a paper towel, probably considering that doing it with his own sleeve was too much. Magnus appreciated the thought.

“So? You’ve been avoiding my question since I got home. I know I’m distracting but I’m not  _ that  _ distracting.”

“Debatable,” Magnus answered with a wink.

“Magnus, talk to me.”

His plea had come out so raw and honest that Magnus’ confident façade dropped. He looked down, Alec’s blue clear eyes too worried for him to bear them. He bit his lower lip and sighed.

“The usual. Max wanted to play with Rafe’s toys, Rafe didn’t want him to, they fought, they broke their Lego Simon’s _ whatsitsname  _ and Bluebell started crying.”

Alec rolled his eyes and tried to suppress an amused smile. “They really are something else.”

“They had a fight like that almost every day this week,” Magnus commented bitterly. 

Alec’s smile faltered. “Okay, this is getting to you more than I thought, I’ll call Jace and ask for a few days off. It’s not fair that only because you work at home you have to bear all of this alone. Rafe’s been here only for a few months, we haven’t adjusted yet and-”

“No really, I’m not too too tired, and what you do is important-”

“So is what you do. They’ll resist without me for a few days. I just have to-”

“Alec, stop.” 

His voice was so dry that Alec shut his mouth immediately, looking at him in confusion. He tilted his head on the side, ready for Magnus to open up to him.

“It’s not that I’m too tired, it’s just that I’m… scared.”

Alec stopped eating and leaned towards him on the counter without realising it, a reflex response he had whenever he thought Magnus was in trouble, like his body felt magnetic attraction to him, like he was built to protect him. “You’re  _ scared?  _ What of?”

Magnus looked up again, and their eyes locked. “What if they don’t like each other? What if they aren’t going to get along? What if we’re forcing them to be together but they would rather not? What are we going to do if that’s the case? When we decided to take Rafael we did it because we wanted it, but what if Max doesn’t? We did it because Rafael wanted us, but what if he doesn’t want the rest of the family? What if maybe our choice hasn’t been sensible as we thought it was?”

Alec opened and closed his mouth a few times, not knowing what to say. How come he had completely missed this?

“Magnus…” he said, calm and soft. “Why do you think they won’t get along? They already do. They already love each other.”

Magnus scoffed. “Why  _ wouldn’t  _ I? They fight all the time! They barely can stand one another!”

Alec frowned in confusion for a few moments when sudden understanding flashed in his eyes. He immediately stood up and got closer to him with a half smile.

“Of course, why wouldn’t you? This is all my fault. I should have thought about it.”

“You should have thought about what?”

Alec passed his hand through the spikes of Magnus hair. “About the fact that you’re an only child. You don’t know how this works.”

“I am perfectly aware of-”

“They’re siblings, they fight. It’s normal, healthy even. That’s the main thing siblings do, especially as kids. You have no idea about how many times I cut Izzy’s hair out of spite or how many toys of mine she threw out of the window because I made a face at her. It happens, I’d be much more worried if they weren’t doing that.”

Magnus looked unconvinced, so Alec sighed. “Okay, listen. I’ll tell you what we’re going to do tomorrow. You know Jace and I love each other right?”

Magnus reluctantly nodded. “Guess so...”

“Tomorrow I’ll ask him for a few days off and I’ll stay home with the kids, and you’re going to have lunch with my mother.”

“What has Maryse-”

“Shush,” Alec said, touching the tip of his nose. “You’re going to have lunch with her and she’ll tell you about the time we had this big fight, he broke my very first bow snapping it in half and I hid in one closet of the training room for three days and my parents thought I had run away for the better.”

“Wow,” Magnus whispered, “sounds a bit much.”

“See, we still fight now sometimes and we’re not even kids anymore. But we love each other, I never questioned it. Ever, not even during the worst fights. It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about it.”

“And how can I understand when it’s a healthy fight and when it’s something I should be concerned about?”

“You’ll understand then, I’m sure. And if you won’t I will be here right next to you to tell you. We’ll be all right.”

Magnus looked relieved now. He smiled. “So, mother in law tomorrow?”

“She’s going to drown you in Lightwood childhood stories, I hope you’re ready for that.”

“Baby, you should know it by now,” Magnus said with a smirk, “I was born ready.”

Alec leaned in, fire in his eyes, but Magnus put a hand on his chest and stopped him. “Hold the thought. Shower first, you’re filthy.”

Alec winked. “Join me in and I’ll show you how filthy I can be.”

Magnus had never been more Happy his children were already sleeping. 

“Sounds like we just reached a deal, shadowhunter.”

**Author's Note:**

> Magnus is an only child and I have always wondered how he would take the siblings dynamics he’s not used to bear. This is my take at it!


End file.
